Teen Was Dropping Off a Friend When She Fell Asleep Behind the Wheel. Her iPhone Saved Her Life, Mom Says

A Pennsylvania teenager says her iPhone 14 saved her life after it automatically called 911 when she crashed her truck in Hadley earlier this month.

The accident happened on Aug. 2, after 16-year-old Lindsay Leskovac had dropped off a friend, her mother, Laura, told PEOPLE.

According to her family, Lindsay fell asleep while driving. Her truck went off the road and hit trees and two poles near a body of water, NBC affiliate WFMJ first reported.

Unconscious and trapped, Lindsay woke up to the sound of a dispatcher calling out to her. No one else was injured in the crash.

“She was on the phone with them for 22 minutes then, telling them who she was, who we were, who her parents were, and they were trying to locate her. She was very far off-road,” Laura explained. “They were pinging her location to try to send the rescue workers to her.”

Her mother credits the iPhone’s crash detection system, which automatically alerts first responders if the user doesn’t respond within 30 seconds.

“Having this feature was what alerted them to her,” Laura said. “Otherwise, we would have gotten devastating news that our daughter was found dead out in a field somewhere. So we’re just so blessed.”

Rescue workers told Laura that the quick emergency response likely saved Lindsay’s life. She had suffered major injuries, including broken femurs, a broken spine, neck, shoulder blade, wrist, and foot.

“One of the rescue workers told me that she would have died if the phone didn’t call 911, she would have bled to death,” Laura said.

“She was upside down in the vehicle, but she had her seatbelt on so she wasn’t ejected,” she added.

Though Lindsay faces a long recovery, she was released from the hospital over Labor Day weekend.

Now starting her junior year, she won’t be able to play tennis or join her school’s dance line while she heals. Still, her family says she is staying positive.

“She’s really positive. She’s just really thankful and blessed to be alive,” Laura said. “She knows she’s going to be out of those things for a while, but she’s just looking forward to what else life has in store for her.”

A GoFundMe created to help with her recovery has already raised $18,000.